Lopez Lomong chosen as American flag bearer at Beijing Olympics

Another stunning chapter was added to the incredible story of Lopez Lomong when his U.S. Olympic teammates chose the Sudanese refugee as the flag bearer in Friday’s opening ceremony at the 2008 Olympics.

Lomong, who made the Olympic track team by finishing second in the 1,500 meters at the U.S. track trials, spent a decade in a refugee camp in Kenya as one of the “Lost Boys of the Sudan.” He resettled in the United States as a teenager with a family in Syracuse, N.Y.

“This is the most exciting day ever in my life,” Lomong said. “It’s a great honor for me that my teammates chose to vote for me. I’m here as an ambassador of my country, and I will do everything I can to represent my country well.”

Lomong, 23, was 6 when he was abducted from a Sudanese church by militiamen trying to turn children into boy soldiers. He and three other boys escaped and walked several days until they were arrested by Kenyan police because they had unknowingly crossed the border into Kenya.

More than 15 years passed before Lomong learned his family still was alive.

When he was presumed dead, the villagers of his home in southeastern Sudan held a ceremonial burial, putting objects in a grave to symbolize Lomong’s presence. Upon his return there in December, Lomong took part in another ceremony to disinter the symbols, effectively bringing him back to life.

Lomong is a member of Team Darfur, co-founded by Olympic speed skater Joey Cheek. Cheek had his visa to enter China revoked by the Chinese government Tuesday.

“When we were in Africa, we didn’t know what was there for us as kids – we just ran. God was planning all of this stuff for me, and I didn’t know,” Lomong said on his website, lopezlomong.org.

“Now I’m using running to get the word out about how horrible things were back in Sudan during the war. Sometimes these things are not on CNN, so if I put out the word, I hope people can get the information. Right now, similar terrible things are going on in Darfur; people are running out of Darfur, and I put myself in their shoes.”

Philip Hersh covers Olympic sports for The Times and the Chicago Tribune.